Friday, May 20, 2011

Below this message is an announcement for the May 28th: Free Oscar Lopez Riveracommunity March in the South Bronx, please scroll down to the end to see it!

On Friday May 20th, Puerto Rican Political Prisoner Norberto González Claudio wll bearraigned at the Hartford Conn Federal Court House at 3pm. We are asking people tostay alert.

Biography of Norberto González Claudio

Born in Vega Baja on May 27, 1945, the second youngest of 6 siblings: 2 women,Mercedes and María Magdalena, and 3 men, Avelino, Orlando and Wilfredo. He lived inthe neighborhood of Almirante Sur with his mother Cristina Claudio Narváez and hisfather Antonio González Vega until he was 7 years old. The family then moved to theneighborhood of Rio Abajo to “the González farm” (his family), where he stayed untilhe married Elda Santiago Pérez in 1979. Together they had 3 children: Elda Cristina,Susana and Carlos, and they also raised Elda’s sons Pedro and Ramón as their own.

During his childhood, he played and ran around like every child does. His fathercalled him Captain. He always had fond memories of his father, but his mother wassomeone very special for him. Her serenity, firmness, strength, wisdom, the strengthof a working woman that his mother embodied have been his inheritance and his pride.With her he learned love, sensitivity, and simplicity, as well as to not give in tothe powerful.

He joined the struggle for social justice and the independence of Puerto Rico in thedecade of the 60's while he was a university student. He was a member of theFederation of Pro Independence Students (FUPI), the Pro Independence Movement (MPI)and the Puerto Rican Socialist Party (PSP). He got his political training in theArecibo region. He was known in his town for selling the newspaper Claridad.

He had a post on a corner of Betances Street in the center of his town, and put onactivities of protest music in the plaza. He actively participated in the VegaBaja’s Garbage Collectors strike in 1970, in the student strikes of 1970 and 1971 atthe University of Puerto Rico, and in the protests against the mines in Adjuntas,where he camped out for several months.

He was in clandestinity since 1985 for defending his people, his homeland, hisnation, and fighting for socialism because he thinks it is the just economic modelfor all peoples.

He is in solidarity with Latin American countries in their restorative strugglesand with all countries that struggle for their freedom and for socialism. Hefervently believes and struggles for patriotic unity. “We must unite on everythingwe can agree on. Our differences should be left for internal discussions withineach organization,” he insists.He is a poet. He writes of his family, life, the homeland, youth, and his eternallove: his wife, to whom, as if a premonition of his future, he dedicated since thevery moment they got married Don Pablo Neruda’s The Letter on the Road.

Now, he is captured by the repressive forces of the northamerican government whoseek to criminalize the struggle for the independence of our people and those whodefend our Puerto Rican nation.

“Norberto González Claudio has dedicated his life to the struggle for theindependence of Puerto Rico. He is a patriot, not a terrorist. Keeping a nationunder the colonial yoke is a crime against humanity, according to the UnitedNations. Thus, the struggle to end oppression and colonialism is patriotism, as hasbeen proved in liberation struggles that all the free countries of the world havewaged. We condemn the arrest of this patriot and are in solidarity with him and hisfamily.”

With this convincing stipulation in a press release, more than a dozenindependentista organizations convened a protest last Friday May 13 in front of theFederal Court on Chardón Avenue in Hato Rey, while inside the building NorbertoGonzález Claudio’s extradition hearing was taking place in magistrate BruceMcGiverin’s courtroom.

When family members entered McGiverin’s courtroom, González Claudio was alreadythere, his hands and feet shackled, dressed in a beige jumpsuit and phosphorescentorange tennis shoes, the uniform the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC). His wife,sister-in-law, children and grandchildren were seated on the opposite side of thecourtroom. An agent entered and handed the family “an object of value the arresteehad when he was detained,” and went on to hand his wife a wedding ring. When hisfive year old grandson noticed that his grandfather was in the room, he said outloud, “look at Grandpa over there.” A little later, the hearing, which would lastaround two and a half hours, began.

The hearing began with the magistrate denying the request from one of the defenselawyers, Juan Matos, to postpone the hearing because he hadn’t had enough time tomeet with González Claudio.

FBI agent gives his version of the arrestAssistant U.S. Attorney Warren Vázquez’ first witness was an “FBI special agent” whoidentified himself as David González. He detailed that he was in San Juan when atask force located in Guavate, Cayey called him to say they had seen someone theythought was González Claudio. He assured that this group was involved in effortsunrelated to González Claudio’s arrest. Later, in response to cross-examination, hesaid it took him some 25 minutes to get to the place where González Claudio wasexercising in a community park on Highway 184, and that he identified him by the onedroopy eyelid González Claudio was known to have, and by his left leg being muchshorter than his right leg.

The agent claimed to be familiar with the file of the accused, who he identified asa Machetero, an organization he said was founded in 1975, and which in 2005 the U.S.government labeled as terrorist. He added that the charges against him were forconspiracy to commit robbery. He stated that when he approached him to arrest him,he said, “hey mister, look at me, come with me.” He said González Claudio took adeep breath, looked behind, and the agent said, “don’t do this to me,” and thatGonzález Claudio moved his head and went toward the steps where the agent told him“sit down.” He said González Claudio smiled and said, “you caught me.” According tothe agent, González Claudio had several false names, including Carmelo Vélez Moya,which he used to get a drivers license at the end of 1990.

According to his story, after the arrest, he was taken to the office of the head ofthe FBI, Luis Fraticelli. The defense attorney asked why he was taken there, sincethat isn’t the procedure. The agent responded that he’d received orders from hissupervisor to do that. He related that while there, Fraticelli asked him if heneeded medication, and if he was in good health, and he commented that he lookedlike his brother Avelino, to which the arrestee allegedly responded, “we’re from thesame blood.” He said Fraticelli asked if he wanted to speak with his family, andthat González Claudio said he did. From right there, with the speakerphone on, hecalled his wife and told her he was in Fraticelli’s office, and that he was ok. Fromthere they took him to booking, and when they asked him to sign, the arrestee signedhis name as Norberto González.

The government also called probation officer Patricia Encarnación Miranda, who saidthat when she interviewed the arrestee and told him to sign his name, he wroteNorberto González. The defense argued, and it was corroborated by the agent whoconducted the arrest, that González Claudio was never read his rights, not when theyarrested him, and not when Fraticelli tried to talk with him, questioning him, whichthe defense said violated his right not to incriminate himself.

In closing arguments, the defense attorney urged that until extradition, GonzálezClaudio be placed under 24 hour a day house arrest. But the magistrate said theaccused was a “dangerous” person due to “his philosophical vision and that of thepolitical organization he belongs to.”

At the end of the hearing, his family, guarded by an agent, was instructed not toleave the courtroom until the accused had left. González Claudio walked by them,leaning his body and throwing a kiss to his five year old grandson, who at the timewas two or three steps away. The child responded, shouting, “I love you, Grandpa,”and immediately asked the attorney who came after, “Why didn’t they let my grandpago?” The attorney answered, “I tried, but I couldn’t. They decided not to let himgo.” And the child said, as if it were a child’s game, “well, you had to hide.”

Agent claims they found weaponsAgent González added, in response to the U.S. Attorney’s questions, that in thesearch of González Claudio’s alleged residence in Guavate, at his bedside they foundtwo revolvers and a loaded automatic rifle with additional ammunition, in additionto two bulletproof vests. The agent didn’t answer defense questions about the numberof agents who participated in the operation, as the government objected that it was“irrelevant,” and the magistrate sustained the objection. During cross-examination,the defense managed to obtain information that the agent had been working for twoyears for the U.S. Attorney in San Juan, and that prior to this arrest he hadn’tdone any other work in that place. Sometimes the agent, who responded to thegovernment’s questions with aplomb and firmness, responded to cross-examinationlooking more disjointed, confused, and nervous, and asked that questions berepeated. At those times, he looked at the Assistant U.S. Attorney as if he werelooking for approval. It seemed as though he hadn’t read the charges againstGonzález Claudio.

Family embraces the arresteeA second government witness was Samuel Santana, who identified himself as a NationalSecurity special agent in San Juan, and who claimed to have been investigating theMacheteros since 1995. He said that since then he had references about GonzálezClaudio, whose 1985 photo he carried with him. He said he was the one who receivedGonzález Claudio’s wife when she came to the federal building after his arrest. Andhe said he recognized Norberto’s brother Orlando, who he approached and asked if hewanted to see his brother, to which Orlando said he did, because he hadn’t seen himin years. He stated that he allowed them both, along with Norberto’s brother-in-law,to be present during Norberto’s booking. He stated that Orlando hugged Norberto, andthat Norberto smiled but didn’t otherwise move, as he was handcuffed.

The federal charges against Norberto González Claudio at the time of his arrest onMay 10 don’t directly tie him to the theft of $7.2 million from Wells Fargo inConnecticut. Essentially he is charged with the FBI identifying him as a member ofthe clandestine independentista organization The Macheteros. Many consider that hisarrest was an FBI show to improve the agency’s image.

Break the Chains.info

is a news and discussion forum for supporters of political prisoners, prisoners of war, politicized social prisoners, and victims of police and state intimidation.

This blog is organized and updated autonomously of the disbanded Break the Chains Prisoner Support Network formerly based in Eugene, Oregon. While this online project shares several of the same concerns as the old Break the Chains collective, no formal organization exists behind the current web presence.

"I will never surrender my pride and dignity nor allow the system to 'cut my tongue' and I will always, without fear, speak out against these war crimes and crimes against humanity, no matter if I spend the rest of my life in a prison cage, and draw my last breath of air laying down in this steel bed surrounded by razor-wire fences and cages, and its prison policies that are designed to destroy one's humanity…."